At only 16 years old, Cruz Hewitt - son of Lleyton - will attempt to reach his first men's Australian Open via qualifying

Tennis fans have criticised Bernard Tomic's showing in Australian Open qualifying on Tuesday, with many saying Cruz Hewitt showed much more fight and effort than his veteran compatriot. Tomic and Hewitt both fell at the first hurdle in their bids to qualify for the Melbourne Park grand slam, although their matches were markedly different.

Cruz Hewitt's first foray into senior grand slam tennis ended with a swift reality check, but glimpses of his exciting potential were on display for a packed-out crowd at Melbourne Park.

Cruz Hewitt has crashed out of Australian Open qualifying with a straight-sets loss to Nikoloz Basilashvili in the first round on Tuesday. The 16-year-old was bidding to become the youngest player to make the main draw since his father Lleyton qualified for the 1997 tournament a month shy of his 16th birthday.

Cruz was handed a brutal first-up assignment and was blown away by Basilashvili in a lopsided opening set. But the youngster showed his dad's fighting spirit to take the match to the Georgian in the second stanza, only to come up agonisingly short.

Cruz Hewitt, the son of former world No. 1 Lleyton, came up short in his bid to reach the Australian Open main draw when he was beaten 6-1, 6-4 by Nikoloz Basilashvili in the first round of qualifying Tuesday.

The 16-year-old could not follow in his father’s footsteps to qualify for the first grand slam of the year as a teenager, with Lleyton Hewitt a qualifier in 1997 as a 15-year-old

Cruz Hewitt, the son of former world number one Lleyton, came up short in his bid to reach the Australian Open main draw on Tuesday when he was beaten 6-1 6-4 by Nikoloz Basilashvili in the first round of qualifying.